The Syndicate: Episode Vignettes
by Julie Ann Pope
Summary: A series of episode vignettes for Kay Mellor's drama about lottery winners, The Syndicate (Series Two). Centred around the main character of Mandy Atkinson. Femslash.
1. Episode 1, Scene 1

**Episode 1, Scene 1**

**Author's Note: **Set after bingo when Rose leaves Mandy and Helen to walk home on their own.

Helen and Mandy walked home from the bingo together arm in arm until they were at the end of the road from Helen's house. They paused on the corner, just out of sight of the street, and Helen turned to her colleague. She brushed the fringe out of Mandy's eyes and stroked her cheek gently. It was clearly a familiar gesture as Mandy seemed to relish the attention.

"You sure you don't fancy that curry, or at least a cuppa?" Mandy shook her head sadly. As much as she wanted to she knew that Steve wouldn't last forever on those tablets and she couldn't risk being too late. Besides, Mandy was intelligent enough to read between the lines of just what exactly the offer of a 'cuppa' meant.

"I really can't, Steve'll go mental and I've got to get back for our Rhea." Helen probably knew more than most that Mandy's home life wasn't the happy one she liked to portray but she wasn't fully in the picture and couldn't understand why Mandy didn't just up and leave her husband. She wouldn't be the first to go off with another woman and she earned her own money so could survive without him. And of course Helen would be there, ready and waiting, to pick up the pieces. Like some unspoken agreement the two women came together and their lips met in a firm kiss.

"You know how I feel about yer Mandy, I just want ter see yer 'appy." Helen searched her colleague's eyes for that sparkle she'd once seen when they had first met at the hospital. Mandy tried to cover up her problems by giving the patients and her friends the usual bubbly patter but Helen had always been able to see right through it.

"I know Darlin' and if things were different…" Mandy paused and let out a big sigh at her wishful thought. She shook her head in resignation at her situation.

"But they're not so we 'ave to make the best of what we've got." Mandy gave Helen a big, bright smile that went right through her and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"Anyway, thanks love. It means so much to me, more than you realise." They parted slightly and kissed a couple more times.

Mandy felt that their kisses held so much more restrained passion and willingness then her earlier forced show of affection for Steve. It was sad to think of how they had got to that point after thirty years together. She could understand being so comfortable with each other that the passion had run dry but it was the things he did and his behaviour towards her that had killed the marriage stone dead. Mandy said her goodbyes to Helen and made her way home. The heaviness in her heart and the feeling of dread increased with every step closer and she just hoped to god that Rhea was settled and fast asleep.


	2. Episode 1, Scene 2

**Episode 1, Scene 2**

**Author's Note: **Set after Mandy arrives home from the hospital after the press conference about the lottery win.

Once Steve had been placated with his beer and an enforced nap, Mandy began to think deeply about her plans for the future. The last two days had passed by in a whirlwind and had really been about the shock of winning the actual lottery so it still didn't seem particularly real. But having said that she would buy a little house with her winnings on national television and then Steve's reaction to it, Mandy knew that she had to finally do something to get out of her situation. The lottery win could give her the strength to leave that she didn't have on her own. But if she was going to be able to do this she was going to need all the support she could get and that meant getting Helen back onside. Mandy perfectly understood where Helen was coming from and she felt it was mean spirited of her fellow lottery winners to dismiss the idea of sharing at least some of their winnings with her. Fortunately Steve eventually went out for a curry with his mates for dinner and Mandy only had to wait until Becky had finished her shift before she could disappear for a couple of hours.

Helen wandered home slowly from the bus stop. She was tired and depressed and felt let down by all her mates but it was Mandy's reaction that bothered her the most. She'd been non-committal about sharing some of the winnings with her and had barely spoken to her since the win. Helen could so easily have said something about their relationship but what could she really say about it that didn't make her look even more stupid? It was barely anything really, a few stolen moments here and there and a lot of promises that never seemed to happen. Helen stopped in her tracks as she spotted the woman in question sat on her doorstep looking the exact opposite of a multi-million pound lottery winner.

"Mandy?" The nurse looked up at her with watery eyes and the most sorrowful expression she'd ever seen. "Oh love! Come inside." Mandy got to her feet and shuffled into Helen's house after she'd opened the front door. Helen took both their coats, gently guided Mandy into the front room and then they took a seat next to each other on the settee.

"I'm sorry…" Mandy went to justify herself not only for unexpectedly dropping in on Helen but for not backing her up as much as she should have done in front of the others.

"No, don't…" Helen sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. I was embarrassed and too proud to wish you well, which is what a proper friend should have done. Can you forgive me?" Mandy didn't quite know how to take Helen's olive branch. She was so used to apologising for even so much as breathing that it rolled off the tongue automatically these days.

"There's nothing to forgive, you reacted the way most people probably would have done in your situation. It's awful isn't it? I will talk to everyone properly about making sure you get something, I wouldn't feel right otherwise." Mandy had reached out and put a reassuring hand on Helen's knee. It was the same gesture she adopted when she spoke to a nervous patient but Helen couldn't help but relish the contact anyway. She'd been there at the press event and heard Mandy mention the house that she had wanted to buy and wondered if it meant that she was going to lose her even if they did repair their friendship.

"It's alright, I don't really expect anything after the fuss I made when I left the syndicate. As long as you use the money to make yourself happy that's all I ask." Helen told herself that's what she ought to say even though her heart was breaking at the thought that Mandy probably would move away, leave her job and take her family somewhere much nicer.

"That's the other reason I'm here." Mandy glanced up at her friend and looked at her square in the eye. "The situation's different now…" It took a few moments for Helen to understand that Mandy meant their relationship and when it finally dawned on her she grinned.

"You mean us?" Mandy nodded and took Helen's hands in her own.

"You'll 'ave ter give me time, it's not going ter be easy keeping it from Steve, but it's what I want." Helen leaned forward and was met halfway by Mandy before they kissed passionately. They rested their foreheads together as they got their breath back.

"I thought I were going to lose you. Are yer really sure about this?" Helen didn't want to get too excited if Mandy was in any doubt at all.

"We've messed about fer too long 'elen. This money's the chance we've been waiting for. I 'ave ter put me family first but I want to ter be 'appy too and that means being with you." It was a very brave declaration from Mandy but it came from the depths of her heart. The reality might be tougher than how she felt at that exact moment but with Helen by her side and the promise of the future she deserved aided by the lottery win, Mandy might just be able to muster up the courage she needed to make it happen.

"I can wait, as long as it takes I'll wait fer you." Helen had waited seven years already, what was another few weeks when she knew that there was definitely something worth waiting for this time?


	3. Episode 1, Scene 3

**Episode 1, Scene 3**

**Author's Note: **Set a few days after the lottery win. Rose tries to convince Alan of her suspicions.

"Well, can you believe it? I'm not giving over 'alf a million quid just ter keep Helen happy. It was her choice to leave the syndicate and it's not my fault 'er numbers came up!" Rose was having a moan to Alan after they had left a meeting called by Mandy to discuss what they should do about Helen.

"I'm not sure, Mandy did have a point." Rose harrumphed in indignation, she'd expected Alan to be on her side. At least she had a couple of days to make him see sense.

"But it were Mandy's lucky diamonds that won us the millions. You do know why she wants Helen to get a slice of the winnings don't yer?" Rose conspiratorially leaned in and whispered to the hospital porter.

"No, why?" Alan had always considered Mandy to be one of those intrinsically nice people; always putting other people first and honest and generous to a fault.

"So she can get a bigger portion of the money that's why." Rose seemed fairly certain in her accusation but Alan couldn't see why. Out of all of them in the syndicate he would suspect Mandy of having an agenda the least.

"I'm not following…" Perhaps the small amount of alcohol that he'd drunk in the last couple of days since the win had affected his brain?

"They're at it aren't they?" Rose couldn't help but grin triumphantly. She'd been waiting to tell someone for ages and finally she was able to.

"Yer what?!" Alan was beginning to think of going back on the wagon the suggestion was so bizarre.

"Mandy and Helen…at it…you know _together_." Rose didn't see it as an actual, bona-fide relationship. She was generally broad-minded but still didn't really understand things like that in terms she could equate to.

"Yer 'aving a laugh! Mandy? She's a married woman and as straight as they come. Helen, well, can't say I'd be surprised that she was a dyke but with her married best mate? Where on earth did you get that idea from?" Alan chuckled at Rose and her tendency to exaggerate any given situation.

"I saw them with me own eyes!" Now that had got his interest.

"What, actually _together_?" Alan had to admit to himself that the thought of the two women snogging was giving him all sorts of thoughts.

"Well no, but I've suspected it fer a while and they go off together after bingo every week." Only last week, on the night of the lottery win, Rose had spied on Mandy and Helen as they had walked off into the night and she felt certain that there was something more going on between them than just good friends.

"They live practically round the corner from each other!" Plus the fact that they'd been friends for seven years, they were bound to be close.

"Arm in arm? They're always touching each other, hugging and whatnot. And you must have seen the way they look at each other? I swear I'm not imagining it." Alan shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't see it myself, they're just mates. You sure you haven't been at my weed stash?" The pair looked at each other and burst into laughter. Rose knew that she was right, she just had to catch Mandy and Helen red handed before anyone would believe her.


	4. Episode 3, Scene 1

**Episode 3, Scene 1**

**Author's Note:** Set the day after Rose's welcome home party and continues with the revelation that Helen has been blackmailing Mandy.

* * *

As soon as Rose got hold of the paper the next day she shot round to Mandy's house as fast as her healing knees would let her. She was the only one who had stuck around since the win and she had always been a good source of support. Deep down inside of herself Rose had known that being let off a prison sentence for benefit fraud had been too good to be true. Now she was finding out just what the flip side of that good fortune meant. She was also unapologetically nosy and wanted to find out more about the nasty texts Mandy had been getting from Helen. They hadn't had time to talk about it properly at the party and it was obvious Mandy had been deeply troubled by it.

Ever aware of Steve's semi-conscious state in the basement, Mandy hoped to goodness he'd keep quiet for the duration of Rose's visit. The walls were closing in on her from all sides and she'd barely slept for more than half and hour as she worried herself into a state. She didn't have much time left before she had to made a decision about exactly what to do with Steve or about Helen and her threats for that matter.

Mandy handed Rose a cup of tea and sat opposite her on the armchair. She really could have done without having to entertain a visitor but Rose was generally harmless, if not a bit of a sticky beak. She'd seen the breakfast news on the television earlier and had a fair idea of what had got Rose running, or at least hobbling, scared. The national paper had been shoved in her face as she'd opened the door to the very distraught auxiliary nurse and Mandy had spent a good half hour placating her as best she could. It didn't matter whether Mandy herself felt that Rose was right or wrong in what she had done, it wasn't her place to judge, just be a sympathetic ear on this occasion. Besides, it would certainly be more than a little hypocritical if she did give her colleague her tuppence worth.

"So, tell me about 'elen. I don't understand what she would be blackmailing you with. You're such a lovely person and I don't believe there's a bad bone in your body." Mandy gulped nervously and tried to smile graciously. It was going to come out one way or the other and she supposed at least this way she chose how. Besides, Rose had already seen the text and knew that there was something going on, she doubted she would leave it alone until she found out exactly what it was.

"We're 'aving a relationship, or at least were, I don't know now." Mandy was more than a little heartbroken at what looked increasingly like the end of it. It had taken her a long time to come to terms with her feelings for her best friend and do something about it. It hadn't made everything in her life better but it had certainly made it more bearable and it had given her something to hope for.

"Who? You and Helen? As in…?" Rose was understandably shocked and shook her head in disbelief. "How?"

"It just…sort of happened…it doesn't matter now. I can't 'ave anyone find out and now with the lottery win if the papers got hold of it…" Fortunately Steve was not in a position to do anything at all at that moment in time. Since she and Helen had started sleeping with each other Mandy had suffered endless nightmares about just what his reaction would be. She'd been more worried about Steve going round to Helen's place and beating her black and blue than anything he could possibly have done to her.

"So Steve doesn't know, or even suspect?" Mandy internally scoffed, she wouldn't be sitting there calmly talking to Rose about it if he had any suspicion in the slightest.

"He doesn't have a clue, then again he would only be worried if his dinner weren't on the table at the right time." Mandy had frequently looked back on the last thirty years and wondered when it had all changed. She couldn't pinpoint a particular event or year when she had noticed that Steve had changed from the man she had known and had grown up with to the bully he now was.

"Surely you don't mean that?" Jeff had been the perfect sort of bloke anyone would have wanted in a husband, quite modern in comparison to his peers but without having lost any of his machismo. He and Rose had been besotted with each other, right up until the very end and she'd lost her soul mate the day he died. Rose couldn't understand any other way for a married couple to be, although she had more than a small soft spot for Alan and felt he had been mistreated by his wives over the years. She did understand that his drinking and rogue ways had more than a small part in it but he was inordinately sweet underneath it all.

"It's true, 'as been fer years. Why do yer think I went off with someone else in the first place?" Mandy would never have looked at anyone else even for a second had Steve not begun to mistreat her. She certainly hadn't been looking to start something with her decidedly female best friend.

"True, but Helen?! What were yer thinking?" Rose hadn't quite taken to Helen in the way that Mandy had, even just as a good mate. She'd always been that bit aloof and slightly stuck up. With her promotion to matron she'd become even more of a pain in the bum and Rose had tried to keep any work related gripe to a minimum. They made an okay threesome at their weekly bingo sessions, but that had only been a relatively recent occurrence. Thinking about it Rose wondered if that had been around the time Mandy and Helen had started up with each other. She'd have to remember to ask another time.

"You can't help who yer fall in love with." Mandy had almost shocked herself when she had first realised it but over time she had grown used to the idea and couldn't see that it was all that different to being in love with a man. As far as she could see it tended to be other people's attitudes that caused all the fuss.

"And are you? In love with her I mean." Rose had just assumed it was some sort of escape from a defunct marriage, she hadn't even considered that it could be anything deeper than that.

"I was…I am…I just can't believe that she would treat me this way." Mandy had been nothing but nice to both Steve and Helen over the years and she couldn't think of anything she had ever done or said to make either of them treat her so badly. She'd always been a walkover and her mother had always said so but she didn't know of any other way to be. She'd been taught to always put other people before herself ever since she was a child.

"It sounds like you're better off out of it love, both of 'em. Use the money to stand on yer own two feet. Buy that little house you were talking about and do something fer yerself for a change." Mandy took a deep breath and knew that Rose was right, that's if she managed to find her way out of both her current predicaments without getting caught in the process. She didn't deserve to be punished for wanting a quiet life after everything she had been through recently. Surely people would be on her side and understand? She couldn't take that risk though and had to find some way of getting Steve and Helen out of the picture as quickly and as quietly as possible.


	5. Episode 2, Scene 1

**Episode 2, Scene 1**

**Author's Note: **A brief scene first thing that day and then continues after it is revealed Helen didn't buy the lottery ticket and quits the syndicate.

Mandy signed on for her shift and surreptitiously tried to cover her swollen eye with her hair. It didn't make any difference and as soon as she looked up from the signing in sheet she was met with Helen's concerned gaze.

"What 'ave yer done to your eye?"

"Nothing…" The last thing Mandy wanted to do was have to explain herself, all she wanted was to get on with her job and forget the previous evening's events had happened at all.

"You've got a great big bloody bruise, that's hardly nothing!" Helen was concerned for her friend but also wanted to make sure she was up to working her shift.

"Oh, that. Left the cupboard door open to get Chocopops for our Rhea and I smacked into it. Looks worse than it is." It sounded rehearsed to Helen's trained ears, plus she doubted Mandy could have whacked herself hard enough to leave a bruise that deep.

"Mandy…" Helen was about to question her friend further and express her concern but Mandy interrupted her before she could say anything more.

"Don't Helen, please don't." It was fairly dismissive and Mandy couldn't look her best friend in the eye as she said it.

"It's me yer talking to, remember?" Helen tried one last time to get Mandy to open up to her but it was clearly the wrong time to be having that particular discussion.

"Just leave it, please." She was hurt that Mandy didn't feel able to talk to her. If her suspicions were correct then the whole situation had to be handled carefully and putting too much pressure on Mandy wasn't going to help matters. Helen decided to leave it alone for the time being but she was determined to get to the bottom of what exactly was going on in the Atkinson household.

* * *

Later.

Mandy went off in search of Helen in the break room and fortunately found her alone. She was sitting at the table in the middle of the room with her head in her hands as though she was trying to soothe a headache.

"Why didn't yer talk ter me about your money problems?" Mandy gently asked her best friend as she sat down beside her. Surely they'd known each other long enough by now that things like that were no longer a difficult subject.

"Like you talk to me about the situation at home?" Helen snapped. She was embarrassed and felt more than a little vulnerable. Mandy looked suitably chastised but hurt all the same. "Sorry, right pair we make don't we?" She had said it innocently enough but there was an underlying element of a deeper meaning in it.

"Don't leave the syndicate 'elen, what if we win?" Mandy was certain that Helen hadn't really meant to quit the syndicate and had just said it in the heat of the moment.

"I'm fed up of doing things for other people, it's like the Christmas lunch all over again." Helen had put so much effort into finding something a little bit more special than the local pub meal they usually ended up with at the last minute. She'd even negotiated a good discount with some free extras thrown in. Everyone had been really keen but on the day they just hadn't seem bothered and had found fault with everything. That had also been the day Helen had too much to drink and blurted out her feelings for Mandy. It had been awkward at first because Mandy hadn't responded, negatively or otherwise and Helen had no idea where she stood. She still didn't and despite finding a way of moving forward so that no one detected that something was amiss, they had not spoken about it since.

"I wouldn't think so much about that lot, they may not say it but it is appreciated." Mandy was far too nice for her own good sometimes and Helen knew that her colleagues weren't really that grateful for her efforts. She was difficult to get to know and could be standoffish at the best of times. Mandy was the only one that seemed to genuinely like her and god knew why!

"Thanks for trying Mand but I know what they really think of me, I'm not stupid." She had no idea what made her do it right at that moment but Mandy spontaneously inched closer to her friend, dipped her head and kissed her firmly on the lips. It was a short kiss but it seemed to fuse the connection between the two women.

"What were that for?" Helen was slightly amazed and caught well and truly off-guard.

"I thought…you said…" Mandy started to feel the embarrassment creep up her face as her cheeks became flushed.

"Four months ago Mandy! You 'aven't said a single thing about it since!"

"You don't feel that way about me anymore?"

"Of course I do!" Helen wouldn't have spent that last four months with her heart and stomach tied in knots otherwise. "I'd just assumed you found it too weird seeing as you 'aven't said a word to me about it since then." Mandy shrugged her shoulders.

"I didn't know what ter say. I'm _married_, what could I 'ave said?"

"Thanks but no thanks? At least it would 'ave been something! Look, I know that things aren't great at home and don't give me anymore cupboard door bollocks, you forget I know you. I don't want to be some casual fling to escape it all either. But I do love you Mandy, more than I should and more than I can adequately say right now." Helen had no idea why she was putting herself through this again and while she was stone cold sober too. All she could think was that Mandy had initiated the kiss so perhaps it wasn't a completely lost cause after all?

"I 'ave got feelings for you too, it's just…I can't just walk away from everything. I've got Becky and our Rhea ter think about too and I can't leave them alone with 'im. He knows where yer live and he'd work it out soon enough." She didn't have to say that Steve kept firm tabs on her whereabouts most of the time, Helen had surmised that might have been the case long before now.

"So what do we do? Ignore it and pretend I never said anything? I'm not sure I can do that Mandy." In fact Helen was certain she couldn't go back to being just friends, her feelings were far too strong and now that she knew they were reciprocated it would be even harder.

"Neither can I. There's got ter be a way, we'll work something out I'm sure." Mandy took hold of Helen's hands in her own as she earnestly attempted to convince her that she was serious.

"Do yer really feel that way about me?" Mandy checked over her shoulder once again and moved closer. She brought one of her hands up to cup Helen's cheek and stroked it with her thumb gently. Mandy nodded and smiled gently at her friend before she leaned in and kissed her. Helen didn't need much persuading to kiss her back and they took a few minutes to savour it.

"I don't know what this is 'elen but I do want ter see where it goes, if you're willing to be patient with me?" Helen nodded as they remained close and feathered each other with light touches here and there.

"You need to be honest with me about Steve, it's obvious he did that to your eye." Mandy pushed herself back from Helen effectively breaking the connection they'd forged between them in the last few minutes.

"I can't…not yet. Please Helen, just leave it fer now?" Helen reluctantly dropped the subject but she knew that they couldn't really start something if Mandy wasn't at least honest with herself about the situation at home. She stood up from her chair and bent down to give Mandy a quick kiss.

"I really should get back out there. Promise me we'll talk about this…_us_…later?" Mandy remained sitting at the the table. She had a lot to think about and was still on her break for another few minutes.

"We will, I promise."


	6. Episode 4, Scene 1

**Episode 4, Scene 1**

**Author's Note:** Could it have been Helen knocking on the door at the end of the episode?

Mandy continued to walk up the cellar steps into the kitchen. She was single-mindedly focused on getting herself out of the house as quickly as she could. This was her one and only chance to get away from her terrible situation. The doorbell rang again before the person on the other side started to knock as well. As soon as Mandy reached it, she opened the front door to a worried looking Helen.

"You took so long ter answer I thought you'd changed yer mind?" Mandy silently shook her head. "Are you alright?" Of course Helen hadn't expected Mandy to be bright and cheerful considering she was leaving her family but she certainly didn't look like a woman on her way to freedom.

"I'll just get me case from upstairs. Go, I'll see you in the taxi." Helen lingered for a moment and watched as Mandy walked up the stairs. For a second she swore she heard voices from inside the house but thought better of going in. There shouldn't have been anyone in the Atkinson household so Mandy could make a clean getaway. However, if for some reason her plan hadn't worked out, Helen didn't want to be the one to jeopardise things. She went back out to the taxi, got the driver to pop open the boot for Mandy and made herself comfortable in the back. A few moments later Mandy appeared back at the front door with a large suitcase in tow. She stopped to pick up her coat and bag from the rack in the hallway before she was grabbed by an upset looking Becky. Helen looked on as and they proceeded to have some sort of argument. Mandy was able to get out of the house and walked towards the taxi but she was followed all the way by her daughter. Helen could hear them arguing as Mandy put her case in the boot with her own and closed it.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Becky suddenly seemed to have noticed Helen's presence in the taxi. Their last exchange had been less than pleasant and she was sure that the younger woman wasn't going to be particularly understanding of her relationship with her mother.

"I'll explain later, I just need ter go love. Please understand." Mandy opened the taxi door and stepped inside.

"Do yer know what she's done to me Dad? Did you help her? Have you been planning it all this time? What do yer want from 'er Helen?" Becky was clearly distressed and confused al exactly what was going on. Finally she'd worked out what she wanted, more importantly who she wanted and it looked like she and Luke were going to try and make a proper go of things. Then she had come home to her family in the midst of it seemingly falling apart. Her mum had clearly gone insane and her dad was in a bad way after what must have been days tied up in the cellar. Quite what her boss and mum's long-time friend had to do with it all Becky wasn't sure, but whatever it was she knew it couldn't have been good.

"Driver, please go." Mandy instructed, trusting that Helen had already told him where they were going.

"Mum, you can't just leave us like this?!" The taxi driver started the engine and indicated to pull away.

"I'm sorry Becky, I'll be in touch." Helen reached across and grabbed one of Mandy's hands to give her some reassurance. If she was honest with herself she desperately wanted to get away as she was frightened Mandy would change her mind. Finally they were on the move and heading towards a brand new life together.


End file.
